The final installment of this three part article by Mervyn Sher gives you the last tips to help you avoid pitfalls, and being exploited, by recruiters whilst hunting for a mining job.

6. How long are they on the phone to you? To effectively validate you as a candidate they should be on the phone to you for at the very least 30 to 40 minutes, if not more, initially, with further conversations down the track.

They should formally ask your permission to contact your references (something which I personally dislike, as if you miss out in the job it means that your references are going to be bothered again by someone else), and if they are doing proper due diligence they will check your working rights in Australia (another insult but c’est la vie in today’s Australia).

If they are in a hurry to “get your Resume in front of the Hiring Manager directly” they are probably making up the numbers – simply because Quality Assurance would prevent them from doing just this.

So the Third question to ask them is to meet up with them soonest.

If they’re in the same town as you and aver from meeting with you, they’re bodgie as!

7. Where else is your Resume going? Remember that your Resume is worth a lot of money. It represents years of accumulated education, training, knowledge gained, mistakes made and rectified, contacts developed etc. it is the potential key to your future bank balance, and you would not be giving that out for free, now would you?So the Fourth Question is “How many other Clients are you sending my Resume to?” If the Recruiter spins you a yarn about other prospective clients, you’ve got a bodgie Recruiter on the other end.Assuming that you’ve asked all of the above “Spot The Bodgie recruiter Questions” and received answers which satisfy you, then set a few ground rules with the Recruiter. If they are from a respectable agency they should have no issue with this.

8. Agree contact levels – Nothing worse than an annoying candidate, nothing worse than a vacant recruiter. It works both ways. If you miscommunicate on how to communicate the relationship will sourly very quickly.

9. Know where your Resume is going. Log in a diary or a spread sheet where you resume has gone, who has sent it and to what level of contact it has gone to for what position with which company. If you deal with another agency in the future they need to know where your resume has gone so they don’t duplicate it. Resumes are first come first serve (including from the candidate and ownership is typically six months) so if an agency represents you to a company without telling you and you subsequently apply there, they may discard your application on fear of getting billed - Bodgie recruiters will try and bill clients on the loosest of introductions months down the line (typically six months is the limit) so protect your data! (It happened to me once).

10. Trust them – If you have taken care of yourself in asking the spot the bodgie questions, then you have done a fair amount to cover yourself, and you can do little more than trust that they willrepresent you to the client in the best light possible. If you don’t get an interview then there’s probably a good reason. A good consultant will always provide feedback from the client even it’s the most basic information. A great consultant will take that feedback, help you overhaul your dated resume, and spend an hour on the phone prepping you for interview and giving you insights into the client’s personality and what questions are likely to pop up.

So what it comes down to is how much do you care about your data, and your next job. If you work carefully and engage the right recruiter you can get access to hidden job markets, have someone verbally fighting your case against other paper applications, and preparing you better than other applicants for the interview.

You can also get access to short term and Rapid response vacancies where for a hiring manager picking up the phone to his trusted consultant is easier than ringing 100 people himself.

However, and here’s the kicker - If you are not careful you can effectively have your personal data fired at companies you don't want to work for to make up a stat.

This can damage your potential chances if you then apply to that company directly down the line through fear of assertion of candidate ownership.

Also if a company receives your resume from 10 different recruiters they are probably going to think you are a little desperate. In closing, please remember that your Resume is You, and has value! Treat it with Respect.

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